Heimiswil is a municipality

Municipalities of Switzerland

Communes , also known as municipalities, are the smallest government division in Switzerland, numbering 2,596 . While many have a population of a few hundred citizens, the largest cities such as Zürich or Geneva also have the legal status of municipalities...

 in the administrative district of Emmental

Emmental (administrative district)

Emmental District in the Canton of Bern was created on 1 January 2010. It is part of the Emmental-Oberaargau administrative region. It contains 42 municipalities with an area of and a population of 93,082....

 in the canton

Cantons of Switzerland

The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the member states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton was a fully sovereign state with its own borders, army and currency from the Treaty of Westphalia until the establishment of the Swiss federal state in 1848...

 of Bern in Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

.

Geography

Heimiswil has an area, , of 41.74 km² (16.1 sq mi). Of this area, 21.93 km² (8.5 sq mi) or 52.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while 13.41 km² (5.2 sq mi) or 32.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 1.35 km² (0.521237914099922 sq mi) or 3.2% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.31 km² (0.119691669163686 sq mi) or 0.7% is either rivers or lakes and 4.69 km² (1.8 sq mi) or 11.2% is unproductive land.

Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 1.9% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.2%. 27.0% of the total land area is heavily forested and 3.1% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 13.3% is pastures and 39.2% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is in rivers and streams. Of the unproductive areas, 7.0% is unproductive vegetation and 4.2% is too rocky for vegetation.

Heimiswil includes the a number of smaller quartiers and villages including the Dorf (Ober- and Niederdorf Heimiswil), Busswil, Berg (with Kaltacker), Rotenbaum (with Lueg, Rinderbach), Weiler, Hofgruppen and individual farms in Hügellage as well as the exclave Hirsegg. The borders stretch over the Emme River

Emme River

The Emme is a river in Switzerland. It rises in the Alps between the peaks of Hohgant and Augstmatthorn in the canton of Bern. The Emme is 80 kilometers long and flows through the Emmental and into the Aar below Solothurn. The drainage area is 983 km². The average discharge at the mouth is...

 at the Heimiswilgraben and includes the Wynigen- and Känerich valleys.

Demographics

Heimiswil has a population (as of ) of . , 2.2% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 1.5%. Most of the population speaks German (98.8%), with French being second most common ( 0.3%) and Dutch being third ( 0.2%).

In the 2007 election the most popular party was the SVP

Swiss People's Party

The Swiss People's Party , also known as the Democratic Union of the Centre , is a conservative political party in Switzerland. Chaired by Toni Brunner, but spearheaded by Christoph Blocher, the party is the largest party in the Federal Assembly, with 58 members of the National Council and 6 of...

 which received 55.9% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SPS

Social Democratic Party of Switzerland

The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....

 (9.6%), the Green Party

Green Party of Switzerland

The Green Party of Switzerland is the fifth-largest party in the National Council of Switzerland, and the largest party that is not represented on the Federal Council.-History:...

 (8.8%) and the local small left-wing parties (8.3%).

The age distribution of the population is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 23.5% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 59% and the seniors (over 64 years old) make up 17.5%. The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Heimiswil about 74.9% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule

Fachhochschule

A Fachhochschule or University of Applied Sciences is a German type of tertiary education institution, sometimes specialized in certain topical areas . Fachhochschulen were founded in Germany and later adopted by Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Greece...

).

Heimiswil has an unemployment rate of 0.87%. , there were 334 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 114 businesses involved in this sector. 51 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 12 businesses in this sector. 80 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 19 businesses in this sector.

The historical population is given in the following table:

year	population
1764	1,187
1850	2,357
1900	2,340
1950	2,212
2000	1,543

Residents

It is the town of origin for the Lüdi family, who make up the majority of the townsfolk. Heimiswil is also the town of origin for the Schertenleib family. There are more than 10 families listed where the name Schertenleib appears.

External links